The Kerala government has proposed to bring in a new legislation namely the Kerala Medical Act which will have binding on the medical professionals practicing in the state. The idea has been mooted owing to increasing number of complaints relating to medical negligence, bribes by government doctors and increased quackery, according to the health ministry sources.

The Kerala Medical Act will supersede the guidelines laid by the Ethics Committee of the Indian Medical Association (IMA). One thing still being debated is whether investigations into alleged malpractices are done by the Ethics Committee of the IMA or a member panel constituted as per the new Act.

It would be for the first time in the country that a state has mooted a Medical Act binding on all medical professionals which are different from the guidelines of the IMA.

The draft of the Kerala Medical bill is being prepared in consultation with the Ethics Committee of the IMA, Kerala Chapter, the sources claimed. No further details are available as to how stringent the new Act would be but the sources claimed that the Act has taken into consideration the prevailing number of cases of negligence, bribery and the like and also the fewer number of conviction of medical professionals by the IMA Ethics Committee. There has been an increase in number of complaints against medical professionals both private and government medical practitioners in the state, the sources said. Investigations into various complaints have nailed medical professionals in most cases but they have all have gone scot free. The new Act aims to see that professionals indulging in malpractices do not escape the dragnet of the law and will be made accountable for their mistakes, the source said.

It is, however, felt that the new Act could be in conflict with the guidelines laid down by the IMA from time to time, but the Health Ministry is of the opinion that these guidelines could be given more teeth if a common Act is pinned up which will have regular clauses as well as those prescribing punishment. The result would be that some of the guidelines laid down by the IMA would also form the basis of the new Act. To avoid duplication or conflict, the Ethics Committee of the IMA has been given a directive to ensure that there exist no conflict and that the clauses prescribed by the new Act be the main guidelines binding on the medical professionals. The Ethics Committee has consented to be the party in drafting the bill.